Kumaraswamy said the raids were going on everywhere and it happens only when the I-T officials come to know about tax evasion.

To a question on whether he thought there was any political motive behind the raids, he said “Instead of saying they (raids) are politically motivated, we should say that the I-T officials are doing their duty. What choice do they have if the information is correct?” he told reporters in Hubballi.

The raids on four film actors Shiva Rajkumar, Puneeth Rajkumar, Sudeep and Yash and film producers C R Manohar, ‘Rockline’ Venkatesh and Vijay Kirigandur continued for the third day on Saturday, I-T department sources said.

The sources added that they could not say whether the raids would end Saturday or not.

The chief minister said film actors and producers “are not something special” and everybody has to function within the legal framework of the country.

“Whenever there is information about the violations, legal procedure is followed,” the chief minister said, adding that it holds good not only for the I-T department, but all the government departments.

Sudeep, who anchored the Kannada version of ‘Big Boss’, was hailed for his role in the movie ‘Eega’ – Makkhi in Hindi – and the multi-lingual ‘Baahubali’, which broke new grounds in Indian cinema and created records in box office collections.